Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to speak on this incredibly important issue. I don't know if Senator Chandler is a fan of RuPaul's Drag Raceit doesn't really seem like her kind of show—but there's a saying on that show that I want to repeat right now: the cheek, the nerve, the gall, the audacity and the gumption! How dare those opposite come in here and talk about the GP crisis. How dare they come in here and talk about primary health care. How dare they come in here and lecture this government about how hard it is to see a GP in rural and regional areas. We know, after nine years of neglect, that they created this problem, they made it worse, they refused to acknowledge it and they refused to do anything about it. It is absolutely disgraceful that they are now standing here and demanding plans and talking about action, when they did absolutely nothing for nine years.

The government care about people in rural and regional areas, and we care deeply about fixing the GP crisis. I can tell you from my conversations with people in regional Queensland that it is very well known that under the former government people in Emerald had to wait 12 weeks to see a GP. That means there are people right now who made an appointment when the last government was in power and are still waiting to get that appointment. The Labor government has been in power for 10 weeks; people in Emerald have to wait 12 weeks to see a GP. When those opposite were in government they refused to do anything about this. They cut Medicare, froze the Medicare rebate and drove primary health care into the ground. They refused to acknowledge that there was even an issue. When we moved a motion in the Senate to establish an inquiry to look into this issue, they voted against it. This is an issue that was created by the former government and it is an issue that the Labor government will fix. It is an issue that the Labor government cares deeply about and has a plan to fix. But it is absolutely appalling for those opposite to come in here and talk about this issue. I thank Senator Chandler for raising it. I can't think of another matter of public importance ever debated on the floor of this chamber that was more like a dorothy dixer.

We've been meeting with doctors and practice managers all across the country and with admin staff who are answering phones, and they tell us they are working incredibly hard and are just overwhelmed. That is the situation that was left behind. In the conversations I have with people working in the industry I can tell that they are desperate, and I know the community is absolutely desperate. When you can't see a GP, where do you go? You end up in the emergency department at your local hospital. We saw this time and time again through the COVID crisis—complete denial by those opposite that the lack of GP access had anything to do with emergency departments being full. They refused even to acknowledge that it was an issue.

The former government failed to improve the dire situation facing rural and regional areas; in fact, they contributed to making it worse. The lack of doctors and other medical professionals in these communities across Australia is not a new problem. It has been around for a very long time. A series of decisions by the former government during the pandemic meant that we had a spotlight put on this issue—finally, thank goodness!—but people were left with no healthcare options in their community. We want to see practical, positive solutions on the table to make sure people have access to quality health care regardless of where they live. We were noisy during the campaign and we were noisy in opposition because we knew that the government refused to acknowledge they had a crisis on their hands. We on this side of the chamber believe that if you have a Medicare card you should be able to use it, but that is not the present situation for people living in rural and regional areas.

I want to acknowledge the many people—individual residents, GPs, peak bodies, academics and others—who took time to engage with the Senate committee process, whether it was through a written submission or providing evidence at a public hearing. We heard your call. We listened. The Labor senators on that committee listened to the evidence that was being given. And here is what our government will do. I can assure the Senate that the Albanese government is committed to investing in general practice and strengthening Medicare with an almost $1 billion investment. Our Strengthening Medicare Taskforce will identify the best ways to boost affordability, improve access and deliver better support for patients with ongoing and chronic illness, backed by the $750 million in the Strengthening Medicare Fund. We made this commitment before the election and we've moved quickly. The Minister for Health and Aged Care has already appointed members to the task force and they are getting straight to work. We are working with the experts. We are making sure the experts are around the table and we are taking their advice. We are listening—something those opposite failed to do. The task force brings together Australia's health policy leaders, health professionals, and includes consumer, rural and regional, and, importantly, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives.

On top of that we're working tirelessly to ensure doctors have the resources to invest in their GP practices. We're making sure the $220 million in the Strengthening Medicare GP Grants program is available to GPs to invest in their businesses. We're also investing $146 million to attract and retain more healthcare workers to rural and regional Australia, for improving training and incentive programs and supporting developing innovative models of multidisciplinary care. And our 50 Medicare urgent clinics across the country will be bulk-billed and will take pressure off the hospital system.

Those opposite can trot out whatever quotes they want from anybody, but you know what really matters: this is a policy that people in rural and regional Australia voted for. They care about these clinics. They want these clinics in their community. When you have a sick child, when you have a sick baby, and the only place you can take that child is to an emergency department, that is an indication the primary healthcare system is not working—and it wasn't working under the previous government. This is an incredibly serious issue, and it's why we are taking it so seriously. It's why we are investing in our healthcare system. It's also why we have made sure there is a distribution priority area classification system to recognise 700 areas for which either full or partial DPA classification is required.

We have not wasted any time. Our government has moved quickly and decisively when it comes to improving this crisis. We have been listening to Australians—something those opposite stopped doing years ago. We know it is hard to see a GP. We know the cost of medicines has been high, which is why health care is high on our agenda. We will reduce the cost of medicines to improve the cost of living and make it easier for people to access medicines under our government.

Finally, can I say, on a local level, that in my hometown of Cairns we are investing in rural GP places at the James Cook University. We know this is a problem that cannot be fixed overnight but if we train local doctors in rural and regional areas—something the former government refused to do—we can make sure we have a generation of doctors who stay in the regions because they've been trained in the regions. This is a commitment we made on a local level but it shows this government is planning on doing the hard, long-term work to fix this issue.

I have to say, coming back to the mover of this MPI: never in my life have I seen more hypocrisy than in this MPI, moved by a former government that refused to do anything when it came to rural and regional GP access, that voted against a Senate inquiry, that cut Medicare telehealth appointments so that people in rural and regional areas could not access telehealth, that froze the Medicare rebate, that drove primary health care into the ground and that even refused to acknowledge that this was a crisis because they voted against a Senate inquiry seeking to look into this issue. The evidence of what the former government did is on the table. And the plans from the Albanese Labor government are clear. It is what people in Australia voted for. It was the thing that got people to change their mind. It was the thing that made them change the government.